Spyro: At World's end
by XH1234
Summary: Spyro and Cynder: two broken souls who were denied their freedom since birth. And now, after their apparent death, the First Chronicler bestows upon them that which they never had in all their 15 years of existence: freedom. However, this does not prevent the dark force known as the Triumvirate (Empire of the Shadow) from emerging, no longer restrained by Malefor.
1. At World's End

So it was done. Their purpose in life was done and they were at last free from all the pain they had endured in the last three years (maybe even four). And the more Spyro thought about it, there could be no other way. Either way him and Cynder, his black dragoness companion who he had developed a strong connection with, were doomed to die; their fates were sealed. Cynder, like Spyro said to the old Chronicler, never had a choice, she was forced to serve the Dark Master but when she rebelled against her sole purpose in life (her egg was stolen at birth and she was manipulated and corrupted to be evil) her ultimate fate was becoming quite apparent. She either had two choices: be corrupted by the Dark Master again and die serving him or die helping Spyro by stopping him. Either way death was the result of both. Either that or Malefor would have found her (like the Hermit said). Spyro, however, had his destiny written down and Malefor and his loyalists sent their allies to kill him time and time again and Spyro knew that he couldn't run away from this that he would either die stopping Malefor or die saving the world- as he was meant to...

"Yep you really are two _broken soul's_ " stated a voice."it was foretold".

Spyro opened his eyes but couldn't shake the feeling of pain out of his body. His muscles were aching, his bones felt cracked, his eyes were weary and his tails ached. He looked at his tattered wings and saw a female black dragon laying on his side, cuddling against him unknowingly. Slowly she lifted her agonised head and opened her emerald green eyes, staring at her friend, beginning to recap the events that just occurred.

"Cynder...?" a male's voice called.

Cynder responded by letting out an agonising groan.

"Cynder I know your not dead, you can't hug me forever" Spyro weakly laughed.

 _"I love you"_ Cynder suddenly remembered the last words she had whispered to Spyro before they had apparently died, and turned red as a wave of embarrassment hit her. _Does he remember that? I think he's to busy wondering where the heck we are to remember"._

"Where are we?" she questioned as she began to get up.

"More importantly, who's that?" added Spyro, turning to the glowing entity before them. "Sparx?"

"Sparx? What's a Sparx? It was foretold you would call me Star...or Sparx or something like that- probably, probably that second one" replied the glowing dragon. "I am the keeper of light- the first ever Chronicler".

Spyro's eyes immediately burst wide open, he didn't care if it hurt, this was the legendary dragon the myths had talked about, this was the original dragon who harness all elements and they were being summoned by him.

"I...I don't believe it" he gasped.

"It was foretold you would say that" beamed the golden dragon. "I am Flameous and I've been watching quite the movie. A movie which was all too real- you two saving the world from Malefor incredible! I'm just upset that it wasn't one of the old weirdo's, could've you know resurrected the story of the mighty Flameous. Funny old world ain't it?"

Spyro looked around him and saw a realistic image surrounding them. It was the world in space, being rebuilt by Spyro's magic. "What is that?"

"Oh that, that's the world...and space...it's er just being rebuilt by you and your magic. You know, you saved the day, stopped the baddy, and committed suicide at the end" explained Flameous, talking about it like it was nothing but a minor event.

"It wasn't suicide, more like a sacrifice" smiled Cynder.

"Ah yes, the former Queen of Englan...I mean darkness or evil or whatever" replied Flameous. "Your transition from evil to good and then to fake evil and then good and then fake evil again, before being properly good and then being evil again before being good one last time and dying, is remarkable! I know you think you belong in Dragon hell, if that even exists, but you don't I don't think that and neither does anyone else".

The two young dragons looked at each other and then at the crazy old ghost, as he said that long list. "You did _cross the sky for_ her and you _set her free_ , both literally and figuratively".

"So, are we dead?" asked Cynder, sadly.

"Yes and no" stated Flameous. "Right now I have transported you to my elemental home, to congratulate you, before revealing to you that you are not dead. But everyone thinks you are, so don't spoil it for them. We just need to wait till the world is finished rebuilding itself so I can transport you home. In all seriousness, what I saw was unlike anything I've ever seen before and for that reason I have decided to finally allow you to have the freedom that was denied to you since birth, the freedom you should have. You are young dragon's whose tale may have not had a happy beginning- especially you Cynder- but have accomplished much".

A few hours had passed, and it began to get cold. Cynder, shivering, went closer to her friend and curled up beside him.

"That part wasn't foretold" said the Chronicler.

"I'm cold" she shivered, before she lay her head on his torso and fell asleep. Spyro sighed, how could he refuse to grant her this one request after all they've been through. He had literally _crossed the sky_ for her and had _set her free_ from her corrupted state, as she had done to him when he became Dark Spyro. Now this _Ancient spirit_ had finally allowed them to enjoy the freedom they never could in life; their responsibilities were gone; Malefor was gone; Spyro had discovered the truth and Cynder was finally allowed to make her own decision and not have her fate resulted in either her dying or...actually that was it.

Spyro couldn't sleep, he wanted to look at the world reforming.

"It's wonderful isn't it!" remarked Flameous. "It looks like something out of those old games that no one really plays anymore cause a new console came out that is better than the old one!"

"Do you um need any help with anything?" asked Spyro, shyly. He was a bit embarrassed because of the position he was in with Cynder (although he didn't mind that Cynder was resting on him) because a legendary entity was literally watching him and also he didn't want to create an awkward moment.

"With what, I'm dead?" rebuked Flameous. "I guess you could find my grave- if anyone ever bothered making me one. Don't worry I find you two _Broken soul's_ journey together to be really...inspiring; amazing er cute. Relax I don't ship, except that one time where I built a ship to cross lava".

"That legend was true!"

"Yep. So the prophecy is fulfilled, just as Ignitus promised; Cynder died for you just as she promised, and I'm going to resurrect you just as I promised so we're all a man of our word here except for Cynder who is in fact a girl...or, well actually we're all dragons. Yeah I'm bad at making references don't judge me!"

Cynder yawned and began to lay down properly, not leaning on Spyro anymore.

"Oh and before I send you back just a word of advice" began Flameous. "Be nice to Cynder, her life has been more difficult than you imagine, like you said she never had a choice in life; she's had it rough. Maybe it's time for you both to fix your _broken soul's."_

 _"_ I know that, and I will" promised Spyro, looking at his sleeping friend, with empathy and sorrow.

"What's that?" asked Spyro as the scene began changing from the world rebuilding to total brightness.

"Oh you want to see, you want to see what it is?" smiled Flameous. "It's a gift. It's your parting gift- in that your now parting from here".

"Goodbye and thanks" thanked Spyro.

"Well time to _Guide You Home_ " announced Flameous. And using his elemental powers, everything turned bright. Spyro closed his eyes- he couldn't see anyone or anything. And slowly a beautiful sunrise began to emerge over the horizon, along with a rainbow and mountains, and not destroyed fields and no Malefor.

"Hey _chosen one_ are you really that lazy?" a mocking voice made him open his eyes. It was Cynder, stretching her wings. Spyro looked at himself, he didn't feel pain at all, he was perfectly fine. "So how bout you test those flimsy wings of your's or did I brake them when I knocked you out of dark form?" she continued to tease him.

"Okay that's it" returned Spyro, as the two happily flew throughout the sky.

* * *

"And Spyro, is he...?" asked a concerned old dragon, Ignitus.

"That is the question, isn't it?" replied the Chronicler, holding up his book. "You see each time a dragon dies a new page in the book is added, I have tried my best but found no trace of Spyro".

The Chronicler vanished in a bright light and the new Chronicler, Ignitus, looked at his crystal, knowing Spyro and Cynder were alive somewhere. "Well young dragon where might you be?"


	2. Dead Man's Quest

_That thing? No, I fail to see the flawlessness of sending, our best engineers to work on this proposed project_ _. Forget about sending, what about spending? It's like building a real-life Death Star, it's expensive and a tremendous amount of wasted resources. But I just received a report that the plan, came from commander Dark Blade himself. I thought it was Lord Zarax's foil to mingle with._

 _That is unbelievable, this had to be some sort of mistake. Why would such a brilliant commander embark on such an expensive task? He knew very well what would happen if he wasted the government's time, money and resources. Something's up._

 _-D.A_

An array of sunlight crept under the eyelids of a very sleepy, purple figure, who was laying comfortably in the short, warm grass. The figure gently opened it's eye's, setting aside his blurry vision that was natural upon waking up. He looked around, astounded. Only moments ago was there fire, death, destruction and now there was beauty and tranquillity in it's place. The purple dragon gently lifted himself up, stretching his limbs as well as his wings, letting his tail loose, and once again fixed his purple pupil's on the utopia around him. Behind him was, flowing in perfect harmony, a crystal clear, still river hailing from above to short hill where a waterfall was formed, and running at a much less aggressive speed than the snow when he was in Crystal Glacier. And much less than Malefor's evil lava flowing down from his volcano, that could easily destroy this spring season.

Beautiful forests. Spyro had to admit that. He had never really come down this area, and if he had it seemed to have dodged his memory as he never recalled having set his eyes upon such breathtaking views before. Spring flowers, blossoming after so many dead months of harsh snow, gushed in the wind as the car drove past, occasionally running them over, and the smoke emerging from the engines scattered their petals further.

Blue bird's whistled expressing their newfound cheerfulness with the world, as the mothers awaited their children to fly home after practising with their newly developed wings. It reminded him of when he was just a child, about six or seven, and his step-parents had helped him grow and also of how Ignitus, who was like the father he never had, taught him how to fly. The ancient, stone cemetery happily paved way for Spyro to walk past it, as the cobblestones that formed their hedges, arches and memorial crypt winked at the figure walking past. Spyro looked at the structure, not wanting to pay it any disrespect by walking inside when not permitted. But then again there was no one here. He looked at the words engraved at the top of the friendly looking crypt: **Flameous the First Chronicler**.

That's when it dawned on him. The first chronicler, the one whom he had only heard of in ancient stories and legends and occasionally bedtime stories his step-mum would tell him to make him go to sleep, had saved him and Cynder-

"Cynder!" he finally uttered a word since he awoke in this majestic land. And it was the name of someone who he deeply cared for, someone who shared the same torment as him, if not worse. Someone who's freedom was denied to her since birth, like his, and someone who he considered more than just a friend. As Ignitus said, there was some kind of special bond that tied the two together, unexplained yet fascinating.

He raced past the huge, dark oak trees that were next to the area where he was sleeping, beneath the memorial hill and finally took to the skies. While zooming through the clouds, he was memorised at the beautiful valley below him. Then another truth dawned to him. This was Avalar! The same land he and Cynder were "greeted" by the Cheetah's and that Hermit who really got under Spyro's skin because of the pain he bought to Cynder with his negative comments and "warnings" if you could call it one. In fact this area was one of the few places that made him, Cynder and Sparx completely forget about the war and make them feel as if they were finally at a home.

Below, beside the flowing river, several cheetah's looked up and saw the purple dragon dive past them.

"It's Spyro! Our saviour, he's awake!" cheered Chief Prowlus. Him, along with the other cheetah's let out loud cheers, waving their spears in the air in gratitude. Prowlus erupted in tremendous laughter. "Hahahahahahahhahahahaha! I don't know if you can hear me, Hunter..." he began, tears in his eyes as he looked at his family of cheetah's being happy for the first time in 3 years, and then looked to the skies above. "But I'd like to tell you I was wrong, hahahahahahahaha!"

Spyro went down to them, landing beside the chief, who immediately forced him into a hug.

"Um..." Spyro awkwardly mumbled, never one for embarrassing moments like this. _Gosh, this is almost as awkward as when Ember asked me to put a ring on her finger. Almost. I said almost._

"It's good to see you awake my dear, young friend!" he cheered.

"Oh, we're friends?" Spyro winced, grinning.

"Oh come on, I was only planning on roasting you, dividing you and Cynder up into six equally delicious pieces and feeding you to our entire tribe, followed by feasting on your dragonfly friend as dessert" said Prowlus, lost in thought, drooling at the thought of eating.

"Um, chief" one warrior nudged him.

"Oh right" he snapped out of it. "When we saw you over by the memorial, we thought it best to leave you be after the professor examined you, stating you were perfectly fine. We thought you deserved your rest".

"Wait, wait wait, you had a professor?" interrupted Spyro.

"Yes and no, We literally just came across a a very smart- albeit a bit nerdy- mole who willingly agreed to give you a checkup. Shame really, I wanted to eat him" explained Prowlus.

Spyro beamed. He knew who it was. it was the same smart mole, professor, who had aided him in his mission to stop Ripto.

"Where's Cynder?" Spyro asked, remembering the reason he took to the skies.

"The black dragoness? She's in that cave behind the waterfall you were sleeping by" he said. "I must say, I don't know how you did it but you saved-

"Hey, where are you going!?" yelled one warrior.

Spyro didn't wait for Prowlus to finish praising him, as much as he loved it, and darted of like a lightning bolt back to the memorial hill and waterfall. He narrowed his eyes, finally seeing the cave that was cloaked by the gushing water. _How did I not see that before?_

With a deep breath, he lunged through it. Shaking off the water on his scales, he approached a figure laying on the hard rock below, sleeping peacefully. A black dragoness, with several shiny silver horns on her head, a- in Spyro's opinion anyway- curvaceous shape, a ruby coloured torso, a deadly tail blade on the tip of a long tail and a pair of emerald eyes that she was refusing to open.

Spyro went over to his ebony friend and nudge her a little bit.

"Come on Cynder, get up, we're in Avalar!" he urged her.

Cynder stubbornly responded by placing her wings in front of her face and let out a defying sigh.

"I know that!" she snapped. "I just decided to take a quick nap".

"Define 'quick', because we've been here for hours it seems" said Spyro.

"To me, that's quick" she countered.

Spyro let out a sigh and peered his head under her wings. A grin appeared on Cynder's face.

"If you're so determined to be with me, why don't you just sit down next to me?" she insisted.

Spyro countered with a grin of his own.

"Nah" he decided, despite the massive temptation to do so. He was never one for lazing around, Sparx knew that. Cynder groaned and got up, stretching herself.

"Fine what do you want to do?" she asked.

"Well since we're no longer fighting to save this place from being fried by a big, ugly thing that looks like the Devil, I'm up for a little race" he said.

Cynder moved her tail so it intertwined with his his in order to put him off guard.

"As fast as you may think you are" she said gently, leaning her snout closer to his. "I'm still better!"

She suddenly pushed him aside, and zoomed out of the cave and into the air like an electric bolt. Spyro wasn't gonna take that, he let out his own wings and followed in pursuit.

* * *

Six apes ran for their lives along the the cold streets. Murder's, attack's, ravaged bodies, destroyed homes, raids from unknown perpetrators were reported. When guards rushed to their stations, to investigate these reports, many fell victim to the same tragedy that imposed upon the others.

A string of attacks, followed by a wave of fear plummeted the Ape clan like a volcanic eruption, but only, unlike a volcanic eruption, there was no where you could run, because you didn't know _who_ you were running from.

Deadly attacks and screams replaced late night television. Little children were now witnessing their nightmares being ripped from their dreams and bought into reality. Many houses were attacked, raided, and just vandalised. Some of these attacks were just rioters and thieves, hoping to benefit from this wave of confusion and panic.

But the _actual_ attackers, the one's who planned this, were more smarter, more gruesome in the way they killed their prey, and more careful. They had chosen which areas to attack carefully, analysing their strategic value and making sure their tracks had been covered up well. It was suspected to be Malefor, who had already cursed the entire population of Apes to remain undead wanders of the planet.

Suddenly two of the apes vanished into the night as the others stammered.

A sword pierced through another, a gunshot killed a third, as the fourth was soon dragged of into the night. The last turned and bumped into a figure. A terrifying one at that. Dressed in a black cloak, his torso containing black and grey military like uniform with several strange ammunition attached to them, his waist containing two large unknown shotgun's and a scythe in his back. His face was the most terrifying. He appeared neither dead nor alive, as his face was nothing but a skeleton skull, with no mouth but two terrifying eyes with red pupils.

"W-What are you?" the ape stammered.

The warrior grabbed him by his throat.

"Death" his chilling voice uttered. Soon a fire consumed the woods, and the skeleton hurled the ape into the flames, before vanishing.

Elsewhere, an equally as fearsome warrior entered a small office, where a human male sat behind a desk, dressed in complete white uniform wearing a black military cap and a flowing cape.

"The last of our ships have returned" the warrior informed him.

"Any news on the map?" he asked.

"Our spies remained mum on that" Dark Blade said.

"Cyclone will hopefully deal with them" said the man. "Once he gets back from those unknown kingdoms".

"Malefor is dead" uttered Dark Blade.

 **Dark Blade and Death are two OC's of mine used frequently in my other stories, such as "Shasta", "Dino buddies" and "Back to Fernfield". So here's chapter two. Interestingly, I discovered that in the Eternal Night, the Skavenger pirates operate like Caribbean pirates, coincidentally the game came out and was advertised at the same time as Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End was.**


	3. Stranger times

_Once I had a heart and it was true, but it fled as I did; replaced with a scar it twas. Listen closely children, should you be brave enough to open my dreaded journal, containing fearful story that I named, with such a dreadful tone, the tale of Zarax. Listen well children, as when the night falls down me, when the waves wash my weary feet, when the stars are nigh, the man who's hand wrote these words will wear the mask with the bloody red lines._

 _-G.R (Death)_

* * *

"Interesting proposal commander Blade, except for one error that I have noticed in your 'plan', should it truly be your's" continued Vesko.

"Every plan conjured up since our conquest of the Ancient lands to this one have all been mine, and all have been successful" retorted the dark commander, annoyance detected in his voice. "His majesty will hear of my success yet again, as our flag reigns over these dragon realms".

"Inferior creatures" muttered Vesko. "A gateway, you say?"

"Affirmative" confirmed Blade. "Malefor is now dead, I am free to create an empire in his place, one that will remain a puppet of his Highness, under a tripartite leadership with me, Death and Anthem as it's leaders".

"And what of Cyclone?" Vesko fidgeted with his gloved fingers.

"He is a naval expert not one of land, I suggest he leaves that to me in spite of his promotion" said Dark Blade, who Cyclone viewed as a rival in his path to glory.

"Your report says only a purple dragon can open the portal, but Malefor is dead" Vesko repeated the demise of the Dark Master for about the forth time.

"Who said Malefor is the only purple dragon?" Blade narrowed his only visible red eye. "The rumours are true. It was indeed a purple dragon who killed him, as the prophecy foretold, and he did not do it alone. It was his compassion for someone that encouraged him. I intend to use that against him".

"Interesting" muttered Vesko. "That leads me back to my noticed error: why is there five dragon's needed instead of the one you said?"

"And that goes back to what I said about compassion" Blade cocked one of his metallic, dark eyebrows. "The name of who this compassion is for, it's the one I want, and it's the names of those he doesn't that's the one's I need".

"Explain" demanded Vesko, not making heads or tails of his riddles.

"I will use compassion against him and then destroy it from the inside, you will see soon enough, director" dismissed the commander.

* * *

Returning to Warfang had been a trip equally as long as the one to Gaul's lair, and Cynder's for that matter. When they returned they were greeted with a city of ruins, one that lay in the wasteland of a once flourishing valley. From the distance, the destroyed dam could be seen. Here in the city centre, despite the misery and despair created by the war, the citizens still had time to cheer the return of their saviours. Creatures of all different backgrounds greeted them, cheered for them and finally paved way for the three remaining Guardians and Sparx to greet them. The enormous, cheerful figures were trying their best not to squash the exited Sparx. The dragonfly immediately flew against Spyro's snout, hugging it tightly.

"Sparx, I can't breathe" complained his step-brother, in a high-pitched voice.

"Spyro, buddy, you did it, you saved the world!" he cheered. "I knew you could do it!"

"You mean after the time you through a fit because you thought we would all die" another voice countered. "Or the time you tried nibbling me while I slept so you could use my caucus as a refuge?"

It was Hunter.

"Hunter!" greeted Spyro. "Good to see you, your tribe are super worried about you though".

"Good to see you to friend, and you Cynder, and I am glad to see Prowlus misses me, took him long enough" replied Hunter, beaming. "I will set out at first light to reassure my tribe".

"Young dragon, I can say gladly that Ignitus was right, you saved us all, as the prophecy foretold!" said Terrador, his voice booming. "And you as well Cynder have truly proven yourself as a noble warrior, redeemed for your past, by aiding the young dragon in his victory".

"She stayed with me even in the face of death" smiled Spyro, remembering how he ordered her to leave when the world was ending and she refused.

"I did my best" agreed the black dragon, turning to Sparx. "I did promise, didn't I?"

"Huh? Who with the what now?" returned Sparx, forgetting about that whole thing.

But Cynder's smirk soon dissolved, deep down not feeling the same admiration as the others did. She knew what she had done, and that other cities lay in ruins and entire lands because of her evil. That guilt was something that would eternally stay with her.

"Speaking off, where is my dear, old friend Ignitus? I wish to commemorate his accomplishment as well, after all he did train you, sent you along this path to not only save us at first, but Cynder and then the world. Of course, he also taught you to fly and was the only one who believed in you, that's not to say I didn't- began Volteer.

"Ignitus?" Spyro's happiness turned to grief as he thought of what had become of his mentor.

Cyril recognised the sorrow in his eyes.

"Oh, I see..." he quietly said.

"He didn't make it...he sacrificed himself to ensure that we make it" tears filled the purple dragon's eyes as he explained this.

Sparx shocked eyes shared that of Volteer's and the other creatures. Cynder's eyes dampened as she too remembered his noble deed.

"It's all my fault, if I had just gone myself...

Cynder's tail (not the tail-blade part) reached for his eyes and gently wiped away the the tears coming from his sorrow filled eyes.

"It isn't your fault, Spyro, he chose to do it" she told him.

"Cynder is right, Spyro, my teacher always has a reason for things, that I can tell you from personal experience" agreed Terrador, with his head down.

The other creatures began murmuring, slowly learning of what had happened. The Guardians each fired their elemental fire breaths into the air: ice, earth and electricity in honour of the fire dragon and Spyro joined in, using his fire element in place of Ignitus's. Cynder also joined them, using her wind powers.

"I'm just gonna open my mouth and pretend I did that as well" said Sparx, stretching his mouth as wide as he could.

The moles looked to each other and then took of their miner hats and placed them against their chests out of respect. Hunter lay down his bow and put his hand to his chest, joining the mourning.

"But I'm sure Ignitus would want us to celebrate Spyro's success rather than mourn his" Cyril changed the mood.

"Agreed, tonight at the Warfang palace, a party will be thrown in honour of Spyro and Cynder and, to some extent Hunter" declared Terrador.

"Thanks for noticing me" grunted Sparx.

"I'm afraid I cannot join, I must get ready to depart for Avalar" said Hunter.

* * *

Terrador sighed deeply as he flew past over Warfang.

 _This_ _is my top priority, I can know longer continue my current plans: to explore the Realms and find 'it'. Even now,_ _he is conspiring. He is not a fool, he has been waiting centuries for this obviously he has everything planned out._

The green dragon flew in the direction of the destroyed Dragon Temple, where Spyro's egg had been safely evacuated 15 years ago.

 _But this evil won't go away and Ignitus is now gone._ _Why couldn't his fire burn his sinister plans._

He squeezed through the rubble of the statues and then entered into the bottom layer of the destroyed temple.

The room was full of destroyed rubble, devastated by the Dark Masters onslaught, yet not even he could fully destroy the Empire of the Shadow.

 _I must stop them. But I don't even know what they are doing or where they are._

He walked towards a pair of stone slabs and stood on a small button, his dragon claw picking the lock, making a hatch open.

The adult dragon went inside,and looked around the dark, dusty room. It was small and creepy but it was also a restaurant for small animals, as there was always spiders, bugs and other insects crawling around for hem to eat.

On the wall was several small tablets arranged in an uneven order, as if part of a larger puzzle. It had ancient text carved onto it. Unknown to the dragon, they had come from a period before the Empire of the Stone existed (over 6,000 years ago). If only Spyro knew his freedom was not yet guaranteed as a new layer of the prophecy awaited him. He had fulfilled half of it, the other half depends on his decisions and actions, should he fall to the path of the Dark Lord, or should he resist his temptations. If only he knew the second half is far worse than the first now with Malefor gone. This tablet had messages on it that Terrador could not make out, but what he did know was that someone needed it- but for what?

 _It lurks in the shadows…_

* * *

Dark, sinister, any and all words associated with cold and fearfulness could be associated with this building, whatever or wherever it was. As loud noises zoomed past, unleashing wind through the dark, concealed windows and into the lonely room, cold rain spluttered through the lines of the curtains. Death leaned against them, making sure his hood covered as much of his face as possible.

Suddenly, a hologram appeared on his monitor on his desk, of a cloaked figure.

"As I was saying, commander, his majesty once again requests your expertise" it informed him.

"Lord Zarax, you surprise me with your appearance" grunted the skeleton.

"This time the capture of one Spyro the dragon is your goal" continued Zarax. "Commander Blade already has a master plan to ensure the murder of his...mate? friend? girl-friend? While, the task of Spyro remains with you".

"I understand, but allow me to improve upon Blade's plan" said the warrior. "Allow me to deal with two birds in one stone. I can kill whoever this is his highness wants dead, but I have a way to ensure the discovery of a hidden warrior".

"Do not underestimate this Spyro, that was Malefor's mistake".

"We are superior to a bunch of lizards, I will go, and I will kill her and bring you him".


	4. Curse of Zarax

"Greetings subjects" someone cleared their voice in the infinite abyss of darkness that was the control room. "I am Vesko Sla-

"We know who you are, sir, we've all been working with you for the last 10 years!" interrupted a shady voice.

"Thanks Anthem for that interruption" Vesko rolled his eyes. "But I am enlightening our spy, like Death said".

"I am more than happy for my peers to contribute to my plans, but in this case I doubt the success of it" added Dark Blade.

"Are we all present?" a third, chilling voice asked.

"All except for Cyclone and Death".

"Shall we begin?" asked Anthem.

"Yes we shall" the third one answered. "Since the creation of the Dragon Realm's, we've been waiting for this moment. At last, the prophecy has fallen upon us. Spyro may have accomplished half by defeating Malefor and saving the world, but that is only a fraction of the prophecy. However this prophecy can be manipulated, by me, in order to turn Spyro from a threat to an ally".

"So why are we waiting for so long?" an agitated Vesko demanded. "Why don't we just strike down-

"Patience, a good plan requires time".

"All the pawns are in place, the stage is set, now it's time to put the players in their places" said Dark Blade. "The test will commence shortly. One thing stands in my path, so I will see who is that one thing and see who will die".

"Excuse me-" began Anthem.

"Not now I'm in the middle of a grand scheme. This has been going on in my head for four hours and I want to finally say it".

"The transmitter in Room 002 is on!" he continued anyway.

"What?! Why didn't you tell me? Quickly turn it off before they wake up!"

"Calm down, I'm turning it off" assured Blade. "Oh it's the red button...I'll have it off in just one sec-

* * *

" _All good things…"- D.B._

* * *

Spyro's weary eyes opened to see nothing but darkness all around him. He darted his pupils around the cold room, feeling his body tingle as the freezing air brushed against it. Several objects could be made out but not much.

"Where am I?" he weakly wondered, coughing. Well I just had a weird dream about some guys talking gibberish...why is it so cold in my room, am I in one of those naked in school dreams? Wait this is not my room, it's a bathroom!

"Do you always talk to yourself or have I just never noticed before?" asked a female voice.

"Cynder? Is that you?" asked the purple dragon. "And why did you follow me into the bathroom, you creep?"

"I can see your back to your usual self, that's ok, I actually like that better" she smirked.

Now he remembered, they partying last night at the palace. Spyro had the small urge to ask Cynder to dance but he just couldn't. That's when someone noticed his embarrassment and offered him a drink. That's when it all went black. The drink must've had a drug and most likely he gave it to Cynder as well.

Suddenly all four of the lights hanging from the ceiling turned on, unveiling to the young dragon's their whereabouts. It was a large bathroom. A filthy one at that, with decaying white tiles all around, a filthy bathtub with blood serving as the water. Cynder suddenly shrieked as she felt her paw touch against a sickly liquid.

She quickly jumped of it and ran beside Spyro. It was a pool of blood with a cassette player in the middle. Cynder began rubbing her foot on the floor, trying to get it off.

"You ok?" he asked.

"Yeah, just a bit of blood, we've seen worse" she replied.

"What is that?" Spyro peered closer at the device, never having come across it before. Using his tail, he grabbed it and hurled it towards them, splattering some of the blood on his tail, before whipping it off. Using his claws, he pressed the play button, and a deep sinister voice spoke to them.

 _Greetings, my enemies or potential allies, I am Unknown and you will refer to me only as such. You may be wondering why I locked you in this gruesome bathroom. It is because I saw a scene similar to this in a horror movie and it seemed appropriate for my plan, well that and also because this was the only other room in the house left to put you in. The others took the rest._

 _"_ Other's?" whispered Spyro.

 _Shut up! As I was saying, I hold a trigger, when pressed could blow up this entire house and it's surrounding. But why should I press it, you won't try anything stupid like smashing the walls would you? I want something. Someone which is a threat to me and I need to find our who. According to my spies, one of five "heroes" across the Realm's is what I need. Thus, I have gathered each of you and locked you in this trap filled building and only the one who has the threat will survive._

"Why didn't you just kill us straight away instead of making us role-play your favourite movie?" asked Cynder.

 _This is a voice recording I can't reply, idiot! As I was saying, You may be wondering why I didn't kill you straight off instead of bringing you here. The simple answer is that the one who has the threat can show me the greater threat so I may deal with that as well. You have three hours to escape or I will blow the house up regardless, but here is the real test, which I'm sure only the threat will be able to pass. There is six of you in the house, and only five are considered heroes. One is a spy for me who will try and prevent your escape, you must watch the house as closely as you watch each other. Pay attention to the day, pay attention to the year, the prophecy is upon us and day one is today._

The tape stopped playing.

"Tubby?" Spyro repeated, looking at himself.

"Spyro, you're not, you've just grown a bit, you look fine" Cynder complimented him, causing him to blush slightly.

Spyro felt something on the other side of the tape. It was a key attached to the device. He ripped it off and then ran to the door. A small metal device was next to it, with a slot that matched the shape of the key. Using his teeth, Spyro carefully placed it inside, opening the door.

"Come on Cynder, three hours isn't that long" urged Spyro.

"Let's go find these 'others' but be vigilant for this spy" agreed Cynder.

* * *

Cyril walked towards the Warfang National Treasury, or what was left of it, after a night of partying. He was still singing to himself.

As he walked towards the door, he realised it was locked and began banging on it.

"Hello? Anyone in?!" he called.

Suddenly, a dark figure behind him whacked him on the head with some sort of hard object, causing him to collapse and faint.


End file.
